J. Clare Wilson

Stereotypes and attitudes about child sexual abusers: A comparison of experienced and inexperienced professionals in sex offender treatment

Purpose. The danger of stereotyping child sex offenders is that such stereotypes allow suspected abusers to avoid detection. The current study investigated whether professionals involved in the treatment of sex offenders endorsed less stereotypes of sex offenders than an ‘inexperienced’ group of teachers. Method. Sixty professionals involved with sex offenders and 71 school teachers completed three questionnaires: the Stereotypes of Sex Offenders Questionnaire; Attitudes Towards Sex Offenders Scale (Hogue, 1993) and Knowledge of Child Abuse Questionnaire (created for the present study). Mediation analyses were then conducted on the relationships between the scores. Results. Experienced professionals endorsed negative stereotypes less, had more positive attitudes towards sex offenders and expressed more knowledge of child abuse than the inexperienced group. Further, attitudes towards child sexual offenders were significantly mediated by the effect of knowledge of child abuse on group (experienced, inexperienced). However, there was no significant mediation for the effect of knowledge on child abuse on the relationship between group (experienced, inexperienced) and stereotype consistent scores. Conclusions. The less knowledge of child abuse, the more stereotypical one may be about potential child sex offenders. Thus, it may be useful to increase knowledge on child abuse in inexperienced groups to counter stereotyping and allow greater detection of offenders.

Are graphic media violence, aggression and moral disengagement related?

It is well established that violent media can increase levels of aggression. The aim of the present study was to examine whether cognitive distortions mediate the relationship between enjoyment of violent media and the frequency in which people are exposed to violent media, and whether this exposure to violent media mediates the relationship between cognitive distortions and levels of aggression. Eighty-six participants completed questionnaires assessing enjoyment of and frequent exposure to film and television violence, lyrical violence in music, and computer game violence. Participants were also assessed with respect to frequency of aggression and moral disengagement. Mediation analysis indicated partial mediation effects of moral disengagement regarding the relationship between enjoyment of violent media and the frequency of exposure to violent media; and full mediation effects of moral disengagement in the frequency of exposure to violent media–aggression relationship. The study emphasizes the role that cognitive distortions such as moral disengagement play in digesting violent media, making it more acceptable and therefore increasing the likelihood of higher levels of aggression.

Evaluation of the usefulness of 'Marvin'; a computerized assessment tool for investigative interviewers of children

This study examined the usefulness of a computerized developmental assessment tool, designed to provide investigative interviewers with knowledge about childrens understanding of spatial, temporal, numerical, and color terms that may be relevant to the forensic setting. Specifically, the effect of the computer program (compared to a standard verbal and no assessment) was examined on 4- to 5-year-old childrens recall of an independent event and their enjoyment of the interview process. In addition, childrens performance on the computerized and verbal developmental assessment was compared with their performance when recalling the independent event. Overall, the children rated the assessment conducted on computer more favorably than the verbal assessment. Further, the verbal assessment elicited responses that were more consistent with their responses about the event than the computerized assessment. However, there was no difference in the accuracy and detail of childrens responses about the independent event, irrespective of whether the children received the computerized or verbal assessment, or no assessment. Directions for future research are discussed.

Eliciting Children's Recall of Events: How Do Computers Compare with Humans?

This study investigated the usefulness of an interactive computer program in eliciting childrens reports about an event. Fifty-four 5–6- and fifty-nine 7–8-year old children participated in an event with their regular class teacher which involved several activities and a mildly negative secret. Four days and again 14 days later, the children were interviewed individually by computer (alone) or by a human interviewer. The computer program incorporated animation and audio whereby an animated figure asked the questions and the children were required to provide a verbal response. The accuracy and detail of the children’s reports was similar across the interview conditions. The children were more willing to review their answers with the computer than the adult interviewer. However, responses to the computer were less consistent across the interviews, and the children were less willing to disclose the secret in the second interview to the computer compared with the human interviewer. Overall, the computer revealed little benefit in eliciting children’s recall of the event over the standard face-to-face interview.

Children's conception of police authority when responding to requests for assistance

Children (five to six and seven to eight years old) were presented with scenarios in which various adults (a police officer, a teacher, and an unspecified adult) requested assistance from a child. Six scenarios were presented (two per adult) with half involving a reasonable request (requiring little effort from the child) and the others unreasonable. For each scenario, the participants stated: (i) whether the child in the story should comply with the adult’s request, (ii) the reason for the compliance decision, (iii) the consequences of non‐compliance, and (iv) the legitimacy of the adult’s request. Compliance and perceived legitimacy of the request was highest for the police officer compared to the teacher, with both figures commanding greater compliance than the unspecified adult. Children’s justifications suggested that the positive relationship between obedience and social status was due (albeit in part) to fear of punishment for non‐compliance, particularly in the younger age group.

Young people’s knowledge of the UK criminal justice system and their human rights

This study explored young peoples attitudes towards, and knowledge of, the UK criminal justice system and their human rights. Knowledge and attitudes were measured using a 120-item questionnaire that was administered to 141 young offenders who were incarcerated for the first time (Offenders Inexperienced with Incarceration), young offenders who were incarcerated more than once (Offenders Experienced with Incarceration); and a Control group (of nonincarcerated young people). The results found that Offenders Experienced with Incarceration did not possess a greater knowledge of the criminal justice system, despite their increased experience. However, their attitude was significantly more negative than that of either the Offenders Inexperienced with Incarceration or the Control group. The Control group demonstrated a better understanding and a significantly more positive attitude towards their human rights than either of the offender groups. In conclusion, the current level of understanding and attitudes of young offenders about the criminal justice system and their human rights suggest that they may be limited in their capacity to make informed decisions regarding active participation.

The effect of uniform and prior knowledge on children's event reports and disclosure of secrets

The present paper examined the effect of police uniform on the accuracy of 6- to 8-year-old childrens reports about an event and it explored the roles that interviewer prior knowledge and social status play in mediating any effects of uniform. Two studies were conducted; in the first study, interviewers wore uniforms that were independent of a forensic context whereas in the second study, the interviews were conducted by police officers who wore either uniform or civilian clothes. Children reported more information (accurate, as well as inaccurate) to a police interviewer in civilian clothes compared to uniform. This finding was found only in the police uniform context. Interviewers prior knowledge had no impact on the childrens reports in either context. The likely impact of police uniform is discussed.

Moral comprehension and what it might tell us about moral reasoning and political orientation

Comprehension of moral reasoning is important both for successful moral education and for Kohlbergian claims that moral reasoning development is cognitive in nature. Because a psychometrically appropriate moral comprehension instrument does not appear to exist, the Moral Comprehension Questionnaire (MCQ) was constructed in Study 1 and displayed some positive reliability and validity findings. Study 2 used this questionnaire to examine whether the increased Defining Issue Test (DIT) p scores shown by liberals is indicative of increased cognitive development. While liberals displayed slightly greater moral comprehension than conservatives, moral comprehension and political orientation mostly appear to contribute independently to high p scores. Additionally, consistent with Kohlbergian theory, comprehension of Stage 5 moral reasoning is more challenging than comprehension of Stage 3 or 4 reasoning. Consequently, while p scores are somewhat cognitive developmental in nature, they also are independently predicted by political orientation.

Perceptions of psychological well-being in UK law academics

ABSTRACT This study provides evidence that changing and increasing expectations of university, of students, and of academics of themselves have had an impact upon the perceptions of well-being in the law teachers who responded to this survey. A total of 185 UK law teachers completed a large survey which included demographic questions (age, academic qualifications, and experience), four questionnaires and a series of open-ended questions. Although most reported depression, anxiety and stress levels within the normal range, those who reported high stress levels were significantly more likely to report lower hope scores and higher obstruction of values scores as well as significantly less environmental mastery and self-acceptance. The results reported here indicate the importance of autonomy to law teachers. It is suggested that this is an issue that requires further investigation because of the potential for levels of psychological distress to increase.

Are today’s children more able to distinguish right from wrong than their earlier counterparts

Abstract The present paper reviews the empirical psychological literature on moral development to examine the hypothesis that children today are more advanced in their moral reasoning than their earlier counterparts. The review briefly examines the classic research on how children understand morality and when they understand the short- and long-term consequences of their behaviour. It then examines replication studies in the moral development literature. The review concludes that there is no evidence for or against the proposition that today’s children are more advanced in their moral reasoning than their earlier counterparts, as there is a distinct lack of reliable replication studies that could answer the question one way or another.